Leopold plans mental health forum in wake of Connecticut shootings

Anne Arundel County Executive John R. Leopold said this week that the county will host a forum in February to discuss mental health initiatives in the county.

The forum, he said, comes in response to the shootings last week in Newtown, Conn., in which 20 students and six staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary School were shot and killed by a 20-year-old man.

In a release, Leopold said, "Mental health is a key piece in our discussion about how to prevent these terrible events, which often a perpetrated by a lone gunman who goes unnoticed until the unthinkable happens."

The forum will be held at Anne Arundel Community College on Feb. 12, from 9 to 11 a.m., and will include representatives of the Anne Arundel County Mental Health Agency Inc., county police, the county's Department of Health and Crisis Response System, Anne Arundel County Public Schools and the community college, Baltimore-Washington Medical Center, Anne Arundel Medical Center and others.

Leopold said in the release that the panel will revisit mental health topics discussed at an earlier forum two years ago, and evaluate what progress has been made in identifying and treating mental illness, as well as identify gaps in the county.